Locationsby Earl Paulo Diaz, Moeko Saito-Jensen
From City Thinking to Collective Learning: Building Communities of Practice for Circular Cities
July 8, 2026
The transition to a circular economy is urgently needed to address immediate challenges: waste, pollution, resource pressure, and livelihood. But, in reality, the transition takes time as it requires sustained efforts of changing systems, habits, partnerships, and local institutions. For this shift to take root, circular economy action requires sustained local leadership, institutional support, community ownership, and practical partnerships that help move people from awareness to everyday action.
Through Specific Objective 2: Green Local Government Units of the European Union-Philippines Green Economy Partnership, spearheaded by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, co-led by the Department of the Interior and Local Government and UNDP, cities are translating the circular economy into portfolios of action. These include enabling policies, financing pathways, innovation, community engagement, behavioral change, and knowledge-sharing systems that respond to local priorities, with communities, civil society organizations, informal workers, women, youth, schools, businesses, and local institutions as active partners.
Under its broader support to local changemakers, the partnership launched the 2025 Circular Solutions funding windows to support both grassroots and enterprise-led circular economy action. This included CSO grants composed of Community Grants and Circular Economy Education and Behavioral Change Grants, alongside the Innovation Challenge, which supports the scaling of business solutions in partner cities and municipalities.
Last year, the partnership awarded grants across the first 10 partner cities and municipalities. Early impacts show great progress in advancing the circular economy through capacity building, policy development, financing, behavior change, knowledge generation, and more visible and practical circular systems. These efforts show how community-focused interventions can contribute to broader city-wide shifts, especially when LGUs, civil society organizations, innovators, and communities work from a shared portfolio of action.
Building on these experiences, the partnership convened a Community of Practice for Learning Exchange with the 2025 Circular Solutions grantees and innovators, and local government offices. The exchange created space to share learning, make ongoing initiatives visible, and identify ways for circular practices to move beyond isolated activities and become part of local governance and implementation.
Human- and community-centered approaches and models of circularity stood out strongly from the conversations.
Across partner cities, local circular economy portfolios are beginning to deliver more tangible results. Community grantees have been mobilizing people, strengthening livelihoods, and building community systems, while behavioral change grantees translated circular economy concepts into learning, participation, and everyday practice.
Caloocan, for instance, has been advancing the city’s portfolio on inclusive and scalable waste recovery, plastic circularity, and community-based participation through the remarkable efforts of its community and behavioral change grantees. The Philippine Business for Social Progress is supporting community-based work to promote inclusive, sustainable, and scalable circular economy practices, while the EcoWaste Coalition is pushing a multi-sectoral and grassroots-led approach to circular economy education and behavioral change.
In Iloilo, the city’s portfolio on adaptive livelihoods, community-rooted circular enterprises, education, and inclusive community participation is likewise taking shape through the remarkable efforts of its community and behavioral change grantees. Angat Pinas Inc. is strengthening adaptive livelihoods and organizing grassroots circular enterprises, while the University of San Agustin Research and Development Foundation Inc. Is advancing education and behavior change initiative for an inclusive, circular, and sustainable future among students and GEDSI groups.
Together, these examples demonstrate that people are more likely to sustain circular behaviors when they can see the benefits, participate in design and implementation, and feel that their actions are part of a wider community effort.
As the EU-Philippines Green Economy Partnership expands support to 10 more Green LGUs, the 2026 Circular Solutions CSO Grants open a new opportunity to build on these lessons. The call will support locally grounded circular economy initiatives in Bacoor, Cagayan de Oro, Cotabato City, Ilagan, Isabela City, Koronadal, Maasin, San Carlos, San Jose del Monte, and Sorsogon.
With grants of up to US$ 100,000, the EU-PH Green Economy Partnership seeks to support initiatives that advance GEDSI empowerment, strengthen the participation of informal sectors and communities, and promote education and behavioral change for circular economy adoption.
Eligible civil society organizations, non-government organizations, and non-governmental educational institutions are invited to submit proposals that can help cities reduce waste, strengthen livelihoods, and build circular systems that communities can sustain.
Interested applicants may visit https://bit.ly/2026CSOGrants, download the application documents at https://bit.ly/2026CSOGrantsDocs and submit proposals to eu.gepp@undp.org with the subject line: Application for CSO Grants for [LGU Name] by [NGO Name].
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